health systems, monitoring, evaluation, learning.

diarrhea

i am not saying this is going to be all-time best solution (ha! ors pun!) but it does seem to be the result of asking the right questions, which include, if this (ors(+zinc)) is such a ‘simple’ intervention (in this case, meaning low-tech and cheap), why is not being taken-up?

it is not clear to me that the question was asked to all the right people. who, for example, answered this question by suggesting that supply chains and lack of suitable water were the main hindrances to the use of ors and, by implication, reducing child mortality from diarrhea? smart people, perhaps, and even people ‘on the ground’ but… it is not clear that anyone asked local people (anywhere – but in this case zambia) why they don’t use ors now.

if they did and the answer had to do with lack of clean water, awesome. if they did and the answer was something else, slightly less awesome. and, if they didn’t ask, less awesome.

there is plenty of discussion about stimulating demand among potential consumers — but that’s different than understanding why demand is not presently there, which may or may not have pointed to other ways of addressing the problem.